I always think the most interesting part of a speech by a politician is often the unscripted part.
Sometimes, it’s pre-planned, the comment a minister wanted to make which wasn’t in the civil-service approved “safe” remarks.
Sometimes, it’s the off the cuff remarks made before a worthy speech is read out.
Michael McDowell, former attorney general, tanaiste, and government minister, delivered the John Hume lecture at the 2015 MacGill summer School on 19 July 2015.
You can read the contents of the speech elsewhere, on holding the executive accountable to the Dáil.
But before he began, McDowell spoke about responsibility and blame.